Moisis Elisaf, first Jewish-Greek city mayor, is buried in Ioannina

Moisis Elisaf, the first Greek-Jew to hold a mayoral post in the country, was buried Sunday afternoon in the city of Ioannina.

Elisaf, a doctor who had been elected mayor as an independent in 2019, died on Friday at 68, after a brief battle with cancer.

Greece’s President Katerina Sakellaropoulou led the many officials who gathered at the city’s Romaniote Synagogue.

Officials included Parliament Speaker Konstantinos Tassoulas, a local MP since 2000, ministers, deputies, the president and members of the Central Jewish Council of Greece, several ambassadors, including those of Israel, Noam Katz and the United States, George Tsunis, both of whom spoke at the memorial service before the burial, and Metropolitan Maximos of Ioannina, who also represented Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios.

“I attended the funeral of Moses Elisaf at the Ioannina Synagogue. The large presence of people from all walks of life, the @PresidencyGR, the Deputy PM, Parliament President, Epirus Governor and @USAmbassadorGR shows how much he was loved and respected. May his memory be a blessing,” Ambassador Katz tweeted.

Parliament Speaker Tassoulas hailed Elisaf as a person who “confronted bigotry, intolerance and segregation and, by fighting these blights of human nature, achieved results…a rare scientist and public man who belied the stereotype that achievement, decency and deep culture are incompatible with the battles of public life.”

“A man who taught us all about morality and respect. Gentle in appearance and in his heart, a peacemaker,” added Metropolitan Maximos, who added that Vartholomaios had spoken with the late mayor during his brief, serious illness.

[AMNA]